


Long Nights

by AgentExile



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Ficlet, M/M, Polyamory, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, model!Taeyong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-05 15:58:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18831895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentExile/pseuds/AgentExile
Summary: Nights away from home seem a lot longer, like the distance itself stretches time.Taeyong pads down the hall to Jaehyun and Ten’s hotel room because their bed always feels more like home.





	Long Nights

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, I’m here with a tiny drabble! A ficlet I suppose. I wrote this in just under an hour tonight after posting a twitter poll for who should cuddle Taeyong, and Jaehyun and Ten were so close in the results that I thought I’d give him both.  
> (I really did just come up with and write this in a hour so please forgive any glaring issues with it)  
> May xx

 

    Taeyong could never sleep properly while he was away working. It wasn’t that he couldn’t sleep at _all,_ but rather that when he woke up, he felt like something had been missing from his slumber. Hotel rooms could not compare to the security of his own bed, the one for which he had meticulously selected pillows and sheets, that had a blanket his mom had knitted for him folded in a neat pile at the foot for when his toes got cold. His bedroom at home was the right temperature, and he could roll over to look at his marimo, and he was surrounded by his things.

   He slept _alright_ in hotels, it just wasn’t… it wasn’t enough.

   Every morning he woke up feeling physically rested, tired muscles rejuvenated, ready to face the day, but there was a small part of his brain that seemed never to turn off, even as his body rested.

   This was his third show so far in the month. Some of his friends from school still raised their eyebrows when he tried to explain how exhausting the circuit could be; they thought that modelling was just sitting in front of a camera or walking a runway once a year. Each time, Taeyong explained quietly that he wasn’t some sort of celebrity, and that he had to work his ass off just to get jobs. He wasn’t sure that they really believed it.

   He turned over onto his side and pulled the pillow from the other half of the bed. He cuddled it to his chest and closed his eyes again, searching for the peaceful corner of his mind that allowed for rest, but even his fingertips were buzzing with energy. The night seemed long, it always did when he was struggling to drop off, and whenever he looked at the clock on his bedside, the red glow promised only a minute or two had passed in what felt like the last hour.

   It was like time itself slowed down when he was away from home.

   When he could tolerate it no more, he swung his legs off the side of the bed and threw the pillow aside. Then he exhaled a heavy sigh. Ten and Jaehyun were going to give him a _massive_ I-told-you-so, like always, but he couldn’t resist any longer.

   His boyfriends shared a room when they travelled, but Taeyong _always_ booked a second room next door because they stayed up too late playing games or listening to music and he needed to _sleep_ if he wanted to have a show without dark circles. The make-up artists hated it when he showed up with late-night-shadows. Then, every single time, after the first night, Taeyong would find himself crawling into their bed and having to listen to their smugness.

   He couldn’t help it.

   Only in their bed did it ever feel like home.

   That was more important than the blanket, or the marimo, or the thermostat.

   So, like every time, he conceded.

   He picked up his keycard from the dresser and shuffled to the door. He didn’t even bother to put on a robe because his sushi-pyjamas were just about warm enough and he knew he’d be back in bed in a second.

   The hallway felt like the walk of shame.

   He tapped on their door and felt his face start to form a defensive pout before one of them even opened it. If he wasn’t mistaken, he heard a definite muffled giggle, and that made him turn even more pink. Then, the door clicked, and he found Jaehyun resting against the frame with a smile.

   ‘When are you going to stop booking that room?’ he said.

   ‘When you two stop staying up playing music until three in the morning! I heard you through the wall last night. This is a _work_ trip.’

  Jaehyun leant close and pressed a kiss to his forehead. ‘You’re too cute when we travel together.’

   Taeyong huffed, but he allowed himself to be pulled into the room. Ten was on the bed, eating his way through some sort of room service dessert and flicking across TV channels. He didn’t look remotely surprised to see his boyfriend. ‘Hey, Yongie,’ he said, not taking his eyes off the drama showing currently.

   ‘Now, ground rules,’ said Taeyong, tilting his chin up. ‘I’m here to sleep. And you two have to help. No TV, no making noise. I just…’

   ‘- want cuddles from your boyfriends? But I thought you wanted your _own_ room?’ said Ten with the slightly sarcastic babying voice that he liked to pull out when he knew he’d won some sort of debate.

   ‘Don’t be mean to him,’ said Jaehyun, and he reached out to ruffle Taeyong’s soft, pink hair. ‘He’s too sleepy to bite back.’

   It was true. Taeyong could have quite a sharp tongue too, when he wanted. In fact, he and Ten could be heard bickering at least once a day. Jaehyun never got involved, content to play mediator or just go with the flow. But Taeyong was tired, and he was nervous about the show in the morning, and he really just wanted to feel _at home_.

   Ten dropped his petty act, and switched off the television. ‘Come on then,’ he sighed, and Taeyong quickly skipped over to the bed and clambered under the heavy duvet.

   It was cold in Tokyo, well into winter, so he was glad to nestle his way up close to Ten’s body warmth.

   Ten and Jaehyun were both working the show, too, though for different reasons. Ten was a hair stylist, and Jaehyun a photographer. They had all met on the same shoot, two years earlier, and never looked back. The three of them did absolutely everything together.

   Except for sharing one room during work trips.

   Although they generally winded up doing that too, in the end.

   ‘Your feet are cold,’ Ten groaned.

   Taeyong ignored him and snuggled all the way against his side, throwing one arm across his stomach. He nestled his face into Ten’s neck and closed his eyes, like he could fall asleep at that very second. He needed his other boyfriend too, though, before he could truly give in to rest.

   He could feel Jaehyun’s eyes on them.

   Maybe he was taking a moment to store a snapshot of this in his mind. Or taking an actual snapshot. He photographed the two of them so much that Taeyong barely noticed when he was on camera anymore. Candid shots, sleeping photos, romantic moments, Jaehyun wanted all of the precious seconds that they shared captured.

   ‘If I’m not allowed to be mean to him, you’re not allowed to make him wait,’ said Ten, and Taeyong felt the almost imperceptible vibrations of his body as he spoke.

   Jaehyun chuckled, a soft, beautiful sound that Taeyong knew so well, and then he felt the mattress depress as Jaehyun joined them. He’d taken off his shirt, Taeyong could tell, because where his own pyjama shirt rode up a little, he could feel Jaehyun’s bare skin against his back.

   Jaehyun switched off the room lamp before wrapping his arms around him, and Taeyong allowed his eyes to open in the darkness.

   He loved to be the middle spoon.

   Jaehyun was usually the big spoon, and Ten the small spoon. Sometimes they switched around. But Taeyong always liked to be in the middle. He couldn’t imagine being loved by only one person anymore when he’d grown so used to having the two of them. There wasn’t a thing in the world that he would change about his relationship.

   ‘Better?’ murmured Jaehyun, and he kissed the back of Taeyong’s neck.

   ‘Mmhm,’ Taeyong hummed. ‘Feels like home.’

   Home back in Seoul was his favourite place in the world. Their apartment was small but not too small, with enough individual space for all of them. The truth was, though, that the pastel painted walls were only a tiny part of the story.

   Jaehyun and Ten? They were his home. Wherever they went, that felt like home.

   Which was why he never ended up staying in his spare hotel room, however good his intentions might be.

   Ten adjusted his position and ran his fingers into Taeyong’s hair, and traced his thumb gently over the curve of his ear. Taeyong could always tell which of his boyfriends was touching him, because he knew every detail so well. ‘I love you, Yongie,’ he said, ‘even though you still insist on booking that room.’

   ‘Less talking, more cuddling,’ he mumbled in return.

   They fell silent, and for a moment Taeyong felt a rush of gratitude that they were both so quick to drop everything they were doing whenever Taeyong needed them, even when it was his own stubbornness that got him into the situation in the first place. He wasn’t sure that Ten was even dressed for sleeping yet.

   He extended his fingers and played with the buttons of Ten’s shirt. _Nope_. Definitely not for sleeping. Ten only wore t-shirts in bed.

   Ten took his hand and interlinked their fingers. It wasn’t long before Jaehyun unravelled one arm from around him to find their hands too, in the darkness, and closed his own over the top of them. His hand was just enough bigger that it could make both Taeyong _and_ Ten feel held.

   ‘Love you,’ Taeyong whispered after a minute, when he realised he hadn’t said it back. ‘Love you Tennie. Love you Jaehyunnie.’

   They chanted it back to him in a perfect rhythm that made a giggle escape his lips.

   Taeyong could be a bit of a fidget, so they had to move position every couple of minutes, but he was already starting to feel drowsy. He found himself turning onto his other side so that he could hook a leg around Jaehyun’s, and Ten followed his trajectory and held him from behind instead.

   Ten had a way of hugging that could be mistaken for no one else in the world. Once his arms or hands were locked together, they were vicelike. They made Taeyong feel safer even than the security of his own bed.

   Jaehyun’s hold was a little looser, which was good for when Taeyong was fidgeting. Sometimes, when they were sat watching TV, Taeyong would climb almost entirely into his lap, and Jaehyun would just let him curl up there no matter how much he moved about.

   He closed his eyes and settled into the feeling of being between them. He could feel the steady rise and fall of Jaehyun’s chest, but also the subtle thud of Ten’s heartbeat against his back. That was the rhythm of his life, those two most precious things.

   He was going to sleep a little later than he would have liked, especially when he had to arrive for call first thing in the morning, but he knew that finally he would feel truly rested when he woke up, even if the minutes were less than the previous night.

   His skin tingled with sensation as Jaehyun ran his fingertips gently up and down his arm. His feet weren’t cold anymore, because Ten had tangled their legs together. Ten, in fact, had also propped himself up on his elbow and was kissing a slow line from Taeyong’s exposed clavicle to his jaw.

   Taeyong giggled and pulled up the neck of his shirt. He would _not_ be able to sleep like that.

   Ten sighed and planted one last _long_ kiss to his cheek, before settling back.

   It was almost too warm between the two of them, especially because Jaehyun had a tendency to radiate heat, but Taeyong was not complaining. His cheek pressed against the bare skin of Jaehyun’s chest, an exchange of touch that could be matched not by words or even by cuddling when they were both dressed.

   That was why he loved nights the best when they were home.

   And away from home, he supposed.

   ‘I won’t book another room next time,’ he mumbled.

   ‘Finally,’ Ten exhaled.

   ‘But!’ he started up quickly. ‘You have to promise that we go to bed early.’

   ‘Promise,’ said Jaehyun, before Ten could interject with a protest.

   At last, Taeyong felt like he could settle down. He squeezed his eyes shut and found Ten’s hand to hold again.

   In the morning, he would stand in front of a hundred cameras and allow himself to be seen by so many people that the faces would blur into one.

   But for tonight, he was only theirs.

**Author's Note:**

> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/puffyong_)


End file.
